Course Details in 2026/27 Session

Module Title	LH Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology Dissertation
School	School of Social Policy
Department	Soc Policy, Sociology & Crimin
Module Code	08 33245
Module Lead	Sarah Brooks-Wilson
Level	Honours Level
Credits	40
Semester	Full Term
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	N/A
Contact Hours	Tutorial-6 hours Practical Classes and workshops-8 hours Guided independent study-386 hours Total: 400 hours
Exclusions
Description	Your Dissertation provides an exciting opportunity to complete your undergraduate studies with a substantial piece of independent research of one important topic within any area of your degree. You are free to choose, select and develop your own topic to match your own interests and prior knowledge. There is also a possibility to draw on the unrivalled range of expertise and contacts across the College of Social Sciences to work on a leading edge topic. For Social Policy students: The dissertation enables students to undertake independent research into a specific area. Students may choose to investigate the construction, extent and causes of particular social problems/issues, as well as their representation in the media and political discourse to explore the nature of the problem and its solutions. Alternatively students may wish to adopt an alternative investigation into the policy making process or pursue an investigation into a social problem to generate evidence to influence the policy process. For Criminology students: The dissertation enables students to undertake independent research into a specific area of crime or social harm. Students may choose to investigate the extent and causes of particular crimes or harms, as well as their representation within the media and political discourses, or consider the different regulatory responses to these crimes/harms. Other modes of enquiry may cover the patterned experience of crime and social harms between particular social groups, as well the ways in which these experiences vary between different societies. For PPE students: the dissertation should addresses a contemporary policy-based question that draws on the disciplines of the programme; Policy, Politics and Economics. Students can specialise their focus within any of the three topics of their degree and will be supervised accordingly by someone from the relevant department. Thus the policy question in focus can be drawn from any of the disciplines but should seek a multi-disciplinary approach in its investigation. For Sociology students: the dissertation should address a contemporary sociological question which draws on the topics explored in your programme either directly or through your investigation of social phenomena. For Joint Honours students: the dissertation can address a topic in either one of their disciplines or draw on both subjects to explore a particular social question/social phenomena.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Take responsibility for managing their research process Make critical use of scholarly texts and primary sources to formulate research questions and research focus relating to the chosen topic Deploy established techniques of analysis, pertinent to their research focus Make an appropriate and justified selection of methods of enquiry, identifying ethical issues as appropriate Critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, and explanatory concepts in order to come to reasoned conclusions Present a coherently structured dissertation with good ‘signposting’ and follow appropriate academic conventions Generate relevant assessments and arguments linking research findings to key debates and theories of social policy (for Social Policy and JH Social Policy students only) Generate relevant assessments and arguments linking research findings to key debates and theories criminology and social harm (for JH Criminology and criminology students only) Generate relevant assessments and arguments linking research findings to key debates and theories of Policy, Politics and Economics (for PPE students only). Generate relevant assessments and arguments linking research findings to key debates and theories of sociology (for Sociology and JH Sociology students only)
Assessment	33245-01 : Dissertation : Dissertation (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Reassessed via 10,000 word Dissertation
Other
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